US visa – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net Stay Connected. Stay Informed. Sat, 27 Jul 2024 04:39:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 https://artifexnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cropped-Artifex-Round-32x32.png US visa – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net 32 32 Children Of Indian-American Immigrants Face Deportation As Time Runs Out https://artifexnews.net/documented-dreamers-children-of-indian-american-immigrants-face-deportation-as-time-runs-out-6189959/ Sat, 27 Jul 2024 04:39:35 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/documented-dreamers-children-of-indian-american-immigrants-face-deportation-as-time-runs-out-6189959/ Read More “Children Of Indian-American Immigrants Face Deportation As Time Runs Out” »

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No light at the end of the tunnel for children of legal immigrants in the United States.

Washington:

There does not seem to any light at the end of the tunnel for children of legal immigrants, a significantly large number of whom are Indian-Americans who came to the US as a young kid with their parents and now risk being deported back to the country where they don’t know anyone because of them being aging out when they turn 21.

There are around 250,000 of such children of legal immigrants, a significantly large number of whom are Indians. The White House on Thursday blamed the Republicans for this legislative impasse.

“I talked about the bipartisan agreement that came together from the Senate where we negotiated a process to help the so-called documented Dreamers. And sadly, Republicans, and I’ve said this many times already at this podium today, which is that they voted it down twice. They voted it down twice,’ White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.

Last month led by Senator Alex Padilla, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, and Representative Deborah Ross, a bipartisan group of 43 lawmakers called on Biden Administration to take urgent action to protect the more than 250,000 Documented Dreamers – children of long-term visa holders – who are at risk of aging out of their dependent status and are forced to self-deport if they are ineligible for another status.

“These young people grow up in the United States, complete their education in the American school system, and graduate with degrees from American institutions,” wrote the lawmakers. “However, due to the long green-card backlog, families with approved immigrant petitions are often stuck waiting decades for permanent resident status,” they said in a letter to the Biden Administration on June 13.

Last month, Improve The Dream, an organization representing these children of legal immigrants, met with over 100 congressional offices and senior administration officials.

“It is disappointing to see the lack of action and associated proposed regulations deprioritized and delayed. It is time for action and I hope President Biden and the administration see the support from this bipartisan letter and show they care about one of the most bipartisan issues in Congress and rectify the mistakes of the past,’ said Dip Patel, founder of Improve The Dream comments.

At the same time, he expressed gratitude for the bipartisan members of Congress leading in a letter asking for urgent administrative policy improvements and who continue to champion a permanent solution through Congress.

“I was forced to start visa-hopping to be able to stay in this country when I was 20 years old, right before I aged out, as a junior at the University of Minnesota – Duluth. I am about to turn 27 this August. Soon, if my time visa-hopping was personified, they would be older than I was when I first came to the United States,” Jefrina, currently a graduate student pursuing my MBA at the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota told PTI.

She came to the US from India in 2005 at the age of 7. “I arrived under a dependent H-4 visa. My family applied for permanent residency in 2010 when I was 12 years old, and I unwittingly fell in love with this country. In the last 19 years, Minnesota has undoubtedly become my home,” she said.

“My young adult life has been a series of temporary fixes to avoid self-deportation. I graduate from my Masters program in December, and I’m yet again at the crossroads of leaving my family, pets, friends, and a myriad of unquantifiable reasons I call Minnesota my home,” Jefrina said.

Praneetha, a Cloud Engineer based in Texas, who came to the US with her family when she was 8 years old as a dependent on her parents’ work visa, and after living in the US for more than 15 years, is left with no clear path toward permanent residency and has to hop from visa to visa in order to continue living and working in the country.

Roshan was forced to leave the US last month. He was working with- an American semiconductor manufacturing company. He came to the US with his Mom and brother at the age of 10 on an H4 visa- he grew up in Boston and graduated from Boston College in 2021 with a degree in Economics.

Roshan grew up in the US for almost 16 years but aged out in 2019. He had to leave the US in June without a clear path for returning, living, and working in the only country that he has truly called home.

Patel said every day without action results in young adults, who have been lawfully raised in the United States by skilled workers and small business owners, to be forced to leave the country, separating them from their families and stopping their ability to contribute to the country.

The administration has heard countless stories and examples of American-raised and educated STEM and health care talent (which comprises 87% of all impacted by aging-out, according to Improve The Dream’s survey) contributing in other countries now due to barriers in our legal immigration system.

“Our country is not only losing young talent who were raised and educated here, but we’re also losing many of their parents, who have years of practical experience as small business owners or in fields like medicine, engineering, and artificial intelligence. The economic case is clear and the moral case is clear. It is common sense,” he said in response to a question.

“All major administrative actions have excluded this population from receiving benefit, despite the tools for such relief being available and being used for others. Until Congress can pass the bipartisan America’s Children Act, we need urgent action by the administration to prioritize this issue, which has bipartisan support from Congress and the general public, and clear economic benefit,” Patel told Press Trust of India.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Biden admin proposes changes in H-1B visa programme to improve efficiency https://artifexnews.net/article67445356-ece/ Sat, 21 Oct 2023 08:21:51 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article67445356-ece/ Read More “Biden admin proposes changes in H-1B visa programme to improve efficiency” »

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The Biden administration is proposing changes in the H-1B foreign workers programme to improve efficiency by streamlining eligibility, providing more flexibility to F-1 students, entrepreneurs and those working for non-profit bodies and ensuring better condition for other non-immigrant workers.

The rules, which are scheduled to be published by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on October 23 in the Federal Register have been proposed without changing the Congress-mandated 60,000 limit on the number of such visas the U.S. issues every year.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

It is typically issued for three to six years to employers to hire a foreign worker. But H-1B holders who have begun the Green Card process can often renew their work visas indefinitely.

The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

Making the proposed rules public for stakeholders to give their comments and feedback, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the proposed changes in the rules are aimed at streamlining eligibility requirements, improving programme efficiency, providing greater benefits and flexibilities to employers and workers, and strengthening integrity measures.

The H-1B programme helps U.S. employers hire the employees they need to meet their business needs and remain competitive in the global marketplace, while adhering to all U.S. worker protection norms under the law.

In a statement, the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N Mayorkas said the Biden-Harris administration’s priority is to attract global talent, reduce undue burdens on employers, and prevent fraud and abuse in the immigration system.

Observing that the H-1B non-immigrant visa programme allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations, defined by statute as occupations that require highly specialised knowledge and a bachelor’s or higher degree in the specific speciality or its equivalent, the DHS said the proposed rule would change how USCIS conducts the H-1B registration selection process to reduce the possibility of misuse and fraud.

Under the current process, the more registrations that are submitted on behalf of an individual, the higher the chances of that person being selected in a lottery. Under the new proposal, each individual who has a registration submitted on their behalf would be entered into the selection process once, regardless of the number of registrations submitted on their behalf, the DHS said in a statement.

“This would improve the chances that a legitimate registration would be selected by significantly reducing or eliminating the advantage of submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary solely to increase the chances of selection. Furthermore, it could also give beneficiaries more choice between legitimate job offers because each registrant who submitted a registration for a selected beneficiary would have the ability to file an H-1B petition on behalf of the beneficiary,” it said.

Under the proposed rule, the criteria for speciality occupation positions would be revised to reduce confusion between the public and adjudicators and to clarify that a position may allow a range of degrees, although there must be a direct relationship between the required degree field(s) and the duties of the position.

The proposed rule codifies that adjudicators generally should defer to a prior determination when no underlying facts have changed at the time of a new filing.

Under the proposed rule, certain exemptions to the H-1B cap would be expanded for certain nonprofit entities or governmental research organisations as well as beneficiaries who are not directly employed by a qualifying organisation.

The DHS would also extend certain flexibility for students on an F-1 visa when students are seeking to change their status to H-1B. Additionally, the department would establish new H-1B eligibility requirements for rising entrepreneurs.

Strengthening integrity measures in addition to changing the selection process, misuse and fraud in the H-1B registration process would be reduced by prohibiting related entities from submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary. The rule would also codify USCIS’ authority to conduct site visits and clarify that refusal to comply with site visits may result in denial or revocation of the petition, the DHS said.

Indian American Ajay Bhutoria, a leading advocate for immigration reform welcomed the proposed ‘Modernizing H-1B Requirements, Providing Flexibility in the F-1 Programme, and Programme Improvements Affecting Other Nonimmigrant Workers’ regulation.

These proposed changes mark a significant step towards streamlining our immigration system and making it more accessible for highly skilled professionals and students from around the world, Bhutoria said.

“The proposed reform plan reflects a thoughtful approach to addressing some of the long-standing issues in the H-1B visa programme, including providing more flexibility to F-1 students and improving conditions for other nonimmigrant workers. We appreciate the DHS’s commitment to fostering an environment that is conducive to attracting global talent and maintaining the competitiveness of American industries,” Bhutoria said.



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US Processes Record One Million Visa Applications In India This Year https://artifexnews.net/us-processes-record-one-million-visa-applications-in-india-this-year-4432520rand29/ Thu, 28 Sep 2023 12:29:28 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/us-processes-record-one-million-visa-applications-in-india-this-year-4432520rand29/ Read More “US Processes Record One Million Visa Applications In India This Year” »

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“The ties between our people are stronger than ever,” said US Ambassador to India.

The US Mission to India has exceeded its target by processing over one million non-immigrant visa applications this year. US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti personally handed over the one millionth visa to an Indian couple visiting their son for his graduation at MIT.

The milestone signifies stronger ties between the US and India amid their strategic partnership. It also indicates the increasing interest among Indians to travel to the US post COVID pandemic.

According to news agency PTI, the recipient of the one millionth non-immigrant visa to the US is Dr Ranju Singh from Delhi. Her husband was granted the next visa. Ambassador Eric Garcetti greeted the couple as “Mr and Mrs One Million” while handing over their visa to them. The couple will travel to the US in May next year.

“I couldn’t be happier today, happy for India, Indians and the United States,” said Eric Garcetti.

While talking about what went behind this achievement, the Ambassador said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden had said let’s do a better job in moving faster on the visas and so the Ministry of External Affairs here approved more bodies in places like Hyderabad, more people who can work on these visas, we changed our systems, we worked harder and smarter and we hit a million visa applications processed this year.”

“Our partnership with India is one of the United States’ most vital bilateral relationships. The ties between our people are stronger than ever, and we will continue our record-setting volume of visa work in the coming months,” Ambassador Eric Garcetti said,

Last year, over 1.2 million Indians visited the US, solidifying this as one of the world’s most substantial travel relationships. Indians now account for over 10% of all visa applicants worldwide, with 20% seeking student visas and 65% applying for H&L-category employment visas.

To address the surging demand for US visas, the United States has made substantial investments in its operations in India. The US Mission has expanded its workforce to streamline visa processing, upgraded facilities at the US Consulate in Chennai, and inaugurated a new Consulate building in Hyderabad.

According to the US Embassy here, strategies to enhance efficiency have been implemented such as extending interview waiver eligibility and leveraging remote work to involve staff from around the world in Indian visa processing. A pilot program is also set to be implemented next year, allowing domestic visa renewal for qualified H&L-category employment visa applicants.

 





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